CyberWire Daily

Latest Episodes:

A farmers market of stolen data. Aug 25, 2025

Show notes

Farmers Insurance discloses a data breach affecting over a million people. Agentic AI tools fall for common scams. A new bill in Congress looks to revive letters of marque for the digital age. Cybercriminals target macOS users with the Shamos infostealer. New Android spyware masquerades as antivirus to target Russian business executives. CISA seeks public comments on SBOM updates. A major third party electronics manufacturer reports a ransomware attack. Salesforce patches multiple vulnerabilities in its Tableau products. Over 370,000 user Grok conversations were accidentally indexed by Google. Ben Yelin examines the UK’s decision to drop digital backdoor requirements. WIRED gets duped by an AI author.

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CyberWire Guest

Ben Yelin from University of Maryland Center for Cyber Health and Hazard Strategies joins to discuss the U.K. dropping ‘back door’ demand for Apple user data. Read the article Ben discusses. If you enjoyed this conversation and want to hear more from Ben, check out our Caveat podcast here.

Selected Reading

Farmers Insurance Data Breach Impacts Over 1 Million People (SecurityWeek)

"Scamlexity": When Agentic AI Browsers Get Scammed (Guardio)

Bill would give hackers letters of marque against US enemies (The Register)

Fake macOS help sites push Shamos infostealer via ClickFix technique (Help Net Security)

New Android malware poses as antivirus from Russian intelligence agency (Bleeping Computer)

CISA Requests Public Feedback on Updated SBOM Guidance (SecurityWeek)

Electronics manufacturer Data I/O reports ransomware attack to SEC (The Record)

Salesforce patches multiple flaws in Tableau Server, at least one critical (Beyond Machines)

370,000 Grok AI chats leaked after being indexed on Google (Cyber Daily)

How WIRED Got Rolled by an AI Freelancer (WIRED)

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Julian Waits: Find a way to help society. [Serial Entrepreneur] [Career Notes] Aug 24, 2025

Show notes

Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes.

Senior Vice President and Executive in Residence with Rapid7 and Chairman for Cyversity, Julian Waits, grew up in the era of the Justice League and Superman and it shaped his career. Julian always wanted to do something where he could find a way to help society to basically help others. Starting out as a Baptist minister with aspirations of being a professional musician, Julian found it more practical to take some technology classes and practice his saxophone when he had time. His first tech job was at Texaco where he worked on early networks and moved into systems engineering at Compaq. Julian notes his ADD made coding less attractive than talking with others to solve problems and Compaq provided him with opportunities to pivot. Searching out diversity, Julian moved to DC, and had his first taste of startups. He now describes himself as a serial entrepreneur. We thank Julian for sharing his story with us.

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Beyond the smoke screen. [Research Saturday] Aug 23, 2025

Show notes

This week, we are joined by Dr. Renée Burton, VP of Infoblox Threat Intel, who is discussing their work on VexTrio, a notorious traffic distribution system (TDS) involved in digital fraud. The VexTrio investigation uncovers a massive global ad fraud and scam operation powered by just 250 virtual machines, tying it directly to named individuals and shell companies across Europe.

The research exposes VexTrio’s full criminal supply chain—including fake apps, dating scams, affiliate networks, and payment processors—alongside a powerful CDN infrastructure ranked among the world’s top 10k domains. It also calls on the adtech industry to take accountability for enabling and sustaining such widespread abuse.

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The research can be found here:

⁠VexTrio’s Origin Story : From Spam to Scam to Adtech

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A free speech showdown. Aug 22, 2025

Show notes

The FTC warns one country’s “online safety” may be another’s “censorship.” A new bipartisan bill aims to reduce barriers to federal cyber jobs. MURKY PANDA targets government, technology, academia, legal, and professional services in North America. MITRE updates their hardware weaknesses list. Customs and Border Protection conducts a record number of device searches at U.S. borders. A recent hoax exposes weaknesses in the cybersecurity community’s verification methods. A Houston man gets four years in prison for sabotaging his employer’s computer systems. A Florida-based provider of sleep apnea equipment suffers a data breach. Interpol dismantles a vast cybercriminal network spanning Africa. Brandon Karpf shares his experience with fake North Korean job applicants. Being a smooth-talking English speaker can land you a gig in the cybercrime underworld.

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CyberWire Guest

Today we are joined by Brandon Karpf, friend of the show discussing his experience with fake North Korean job applicants. You can also hear more from Brandon on our show T-Minus Daily, where he’s a regular guest on a monthly space segment—catch his latest episode this Monday!

Selected Reading

US warns tech companies against complying with European and British ‘censorship’ laws (The Record)

House lawmakers take aim at education requirements for federal cyber jobs (CyberScoop)

MURKY PANDA: Trusted-Relationship Cloud Threat (CrowdStrike)

MITRE Updates List of Most Common Hardware Weaknesses (SecurityWeek)

Phone Searches at the US Border Hit a Record High (WIRED)

The Cybersecurity Community's Wake-Up Call: A Fake Reward and Its Lessons (The DefendOps Diaries)

Chinese national who sabotaged Ohio company’s systems handed four-year jail stint (The Record)

CPAP Medical Data Breach Impacts 90,000 People (SecurityWeek)

Interpol-Led African Cybercrime Crackdown Leads to 1209 Arrests (Infosecurity Magazine)

'Impersonation as a service' next big thing in cybercrime (The Register)

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Behind the lock lies a flaw. Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

Zero-day clickjacking flaws affect major password managers. The FBI warns that Russian state-backed hackers are exploiting a long-known Cisco flaw. Apple releases emergency patches for a zero-day flaw in the Image I/O framework. Home Depot faces a proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of secretly using facial recognition at self-checkout kiosks. A VPN browser extension has been exposed for secretly spying on users. Browser fingerprinting overtakes cookies as the dominant method of online tracking. Agentic AI browsers prove easily scammed. A Scattered Spider member earns 10 years in federal prison. Ron Zayas, CEO of Ironwall by Incogni, to discuss the massive data sharing and privacy risks in the leading Buy Now Pay Later apps. An Australian bank’s AI cutbacks are put on permanent hold.

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CyberWire Guest

Today we are joined by Ron Zayas, CEO of Ironwall by Incogni, to discuss the massive data sharing and privacy risks in the leading Buy Now Pay Later apps. Tune in to hear the full conversation on Caveat.

Selected Reading

Researcher Exposes Zero-Day Clickjacking Vulnerabilities in Major Password Managers (Socket)

FBI warns of Russian hackers exploiting 7-year-old Cisco flaw (Bleeping Computer)

Apple fixes new zero-day flaw exploited in targeted attacks (Bleeping Computer)

Home Depot Sued for 'Secretly' Using Facial Recognition Technology on Self-Checkout Cameras (PetaPixel)

SpyVPN: The Google-Featured VPN That Secretly Captures Your Screen (Koi Blog)

Beyond cookies: browser fingerprinting in 2025 (PITG Network)

"Scamlexity": When Agentic AI Browsers Get Scammed (Guardio)

SIM-Swapper, Scattered Spider Hacker Gets 10 Years (Krebs on Security)

Commonwealth Bank backtracks on AI job cuts, apologises for 'error' as call volumes rise (ABC News)

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The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc.

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Undoing the undo bug. Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

Microsoft releases emergency out-of-band (OOB) Windows updates. Trump targets NSA’s leading AI and cyber expert in clearance revocations. A breach may have compromised the privacy of Ohio medical marijuana patients. Cybercriminals exploit an AI website builder to rapidly create phishing sites. Warlock ransomware operators target Microsoft’s SharePoint ToolShell vulnerability. Google and Mozilla patch Chrome and Firefox. European officials report two cyber incidents targeting water infrastructure. A federal appeals court has upheld fines against T-Mobile and Sprint for illegally selling customer location data. Authorities dismantle DDoS powerhouse Rapper Bot. On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Matt Radolec, VP - Incident Response, Cloud Operations, and Sales Engineering at Varonis, speaking about ShinyHunters and the problems with securing Salesforce. Microsoft Copilot gets creative with compliance.

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CyberWire Guest

On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Matt Radolec, VP - Incident Response, Cloud Operations, and Sales Engineering at Varonis, who is speaking about ShinyHunters and the problems with securing Salesforce. You can hear more from Matt here.

Selected Reading

Microsoft releases emergency updates to fix Windows recovery (Bleeping Computer)

Trump Revokes Security Clearances of 37 Former and Current Officials (The New York Times)

Highly Sensitive Medical Cannabis Patient Data Exposed by Unsecured Database (WIRED)

AI Website Builder Lovable Abused for Phishing and Malware Scams (Hackread)

Warlock Ransomware Hitting Victims Globally Through SharePoint ToolShell Exploit (InfoSecurity Magazine)

High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in Chrome, Firefox (SecurityWeek)

Russia-linked European attacks renew concerns over water cybersecurity (CSO Online)

T-Mobile claimed selling location data without consent is legal, judges disagree (Ars Technica)

Officials gain control of Rapper Bot DDoS botnet, charge lead developer and administrator (CyberScoop)

Copilot Broke Your Audit Log, but Microsoft Won’t Tell You (Pistachio Blog)

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The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc.

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Inside Intel’s internal web maze. Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

A researcher uncovers vulnerabilities across Intel’s internal websites that exposed sensitive employee and supplier data. The Kimsuky group (APT43) targets South Korean diplomatic missions. A new DDoS vulnerability bypasses the 2023 “Rapid Reset” fix. Drug development firm Inotiv reports a ransomware attack to the SEC. The UK drops their demand that Apple provide access to encrypted iCloud accounts. Hackers disguise the PipeMagic backdoor as a fake ChatGPT desktop app. The source code for a powerful Android banking trojan was leaked online. A Nebraska man is sentenced to prison for defrauding cloud providers to mine nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency. On this week’s Threat Vector, David Moulton speaks with Liz Pinder and Patrick Bayle for a no holds barred look at context switching in the SOC. A UK police force fails to call for backup.

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Threat Vector

Security analysts are drowning in tools, alerts, and tabs. On today's Threat Vector segment from Palo Alto Networks, we offer a snapshot from host⁠ David Moulton⁠'s conversation with⁠ Liz Pinder⁠ and⁠ Patrick Bayle⁠⁠. Together they take a no holds barred look at context switching in the SOC, what it costs, why it's getting worse, and how smarter design can fix it. You can listen to David, Patrick, and Liz's conversation⁠ here⁠. It’s a must-listen for anyone building or managing a modern SOC. New episodes of⁠ Threat Vector⁠ drop each Thursday on the N2K CyberWire network and in your favorite podcast app.

Selected Reading

Intel data breach: employee data could be accessed via API (Techzine Global)

North Korean Kimsuky Hackers Use GitHub to Target Foreign Embassies with XenoRAT Malware (GB Hackers)

Internet-wide Vulnerability Enables Giant DDoS Attacks (Dark Reading)

Drug development company Inotiv reports ransomware attack to SEC (The Record)

UK ‘agrees to drop’ demand over Apple iCloud encryption, US intelligence head claims (The Record)

Ransomware gang masking PipeMagic backdoor as ChatGPT desktop app: Microsoft (The Record)

ERMAC Android malware source code leak exposes banking trojan infrastructure (Bleeping Computer)

Nebraska man gets 1 year in prison for $3.5M cryptojacking scheme (Bleeping Computer)

South Yorkshire Police Deletes 96,000 Pieces of Digital Evidence (Infosecurity Magazine)

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Workday’s bad day. Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

HR software giant Workday discloses a data breach. Researchers uncover a zero-day in Elastic’s EDR software. Ghost-tapping is an emerging fraud technique where cybercriminals use NFC relay attacks to exploit stolen payment card data. Germany may be on a path to ban ad blockers. A security researcher documents multiple serious flaws in McDonald’s systems. There’s a new open-source framework for testing 5G security flaws. New York’s Attorney General sues the banks behind Zelle over fraud allegations. The DOJ charges the alleged Zeppelin ransomware operator and seizes over $2.8 million in cryptocurrency. Tim Starks from CyberScoop discusses the overlooked changes that two Trump executive orders could bring to cybersecurity. Bots build their own echo chambers.

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Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you’ll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn.
CyberWire Guest

Today we have Tim Starks from CyberScoop discussing the overlooked changes that two Trump executive orders could bring to cybersecurity.

Selected Reading

HR giant Workday discloses data breach after Salesforce attack (Bleeping Computer)

Researchers report zero-day vulnerability in Elastic Endpoint Detection and Respons Driver that enables system compromise (Beyond Machines)

Ghost-Tapping and the Chinese Cybercriminal Retail Fraud Ecosystem (Recorded Future)

Is Germany on the Brink of Banning Ad Blockers? User Freedom, Privacy, and Security Is At Risk. (Open Policy & Advocacy)

How I Hacked McDonald's (Their Security Contact Was Harder to Find Than Their Secret Sauce Recipe) (bobdahacker)

Boffins say tool can sniff 5G traffic, launch 'attacks' without using rogue base stations (The Register)

New York claims Zelle’s shoddy security enabled a billion dollars in scams (The Verge)

US Seizes $2.8 Million From Zeppelin Ransomware Operator (SecurityWeek)

Researchers Made a Social Media Platform Where Every User Was AI. The Bots Ended Up at War (Gizmodo)

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Strengthening product security through ethical hacker collaboration. [CyberWire-X] Aug 17, 2025

Show notes

Bug bounty programs have become a critical bridge between businesses and ethical hackers, but what does it take to make that relationship thrive? In this episode, Ani Turner, Senior Security Engineer and bug bounty program lead at Adobe, and Jasmin Landry, a seasoned ethical hacker and top-performing researcher on Adobe’s program, dive into the goals, benefits, and hidden challenges of running and contributing to a bug bounty program.

From the motivations that drive hackers and businesses, to the misconceptions that persist in the space, this conversation explores what really makes a bug bounty program successful — and how trust, communication, and shared purpose can lead to stronger security outcomes.

Resources:

Learn more about Adobe’s bug bounty program: https://www.adobe.com/trust/security/bug-bounty.html
Submit a report to Adobe: https://hackerone.com/adobe?type=team

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The CVE countdown clock. [Research Saturday] Aug 16, 2025

Show notes

Bob Rudis, VP Data Science from GreyNoise, is sharing some insights into their work on "Early Warning Signals: When Attacker Behavior Precedes New Vulnerabilities." New research reveals a striking trend: in 80% of cases, spikes in malicious activity against enterprise edge technologies like VPNs and firewalls occurred weeks before related CVEs were disclosed.

The report breaks down this “6-week critical window,” highlighting which vendors show the strongest early-warning patterns and offering tactical steps defenders can take when suspicious spikes emerge. These findings reveal how early attacker activity can be transformed into actionable intelligence, enabling defenders to anticipate and neutralize threats before vulnerabilities are publicly disclosed.

Complete our annual ⁠⁠⁠audience survey⁠⁠⁠ before August 31.

The research can be found here:

Early Warning Signals: When Attacker Behavior Precedes New Vulnerabilities

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